ADFinlayson Posted February 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2022 Haven't done much by way of guitar building this week but I am getting the last few bits of this one done before I start spraying it. Firstly I finished off fret levelling, crowning and sanding them. I method for crowing at the moment is to rough the shape in with the crimson 3 corner file - I have several different crowning files but I'm finding the 3 corner file to be the slow but more accurate method. Then I send them with 120, then 240 along the fret until the sharpie line has almost disapeared. then I go across the frets with 320, then along the frets again with 320. Then when the lacquer is curing I'll do final sanding on them with 600 and buff them with the dremel. With the frets semi done, I installed the outer 2 tuners and the tailpiece studs. Using a new centre line that I get from running a ruler down the edge of the neck taper, just incase the new centre line isn't bang on with the centre seam of the maple cap, in this case they're both bang on but I havne't always been that lucky. With the tailpiece and two outer strings on, I can slide the tunomatic into place and get the x and y dialed in perfectly. That is a nice thing about installing a tom and tailpiece - Wrapround bridges are a one shot deal with no ability to tweak the x axis. I can also test intonation here and get the Y dialed in so there is barely any adjustment for intonation needed later on. With any luck I'll get the metallic coat and the burst done next week. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 Can't remember how much detail I've gone into on the finish for this one so apologies if I'm repeating myself. Some experimental finishing happened this weekend. Since starting this build, Tom started playing in a Tool cover band and asked me if I could make his guitar a silver burst. I didn't want to cover up all the nice maple though so this is my attempt at a transparent silver burst... After the stain, which I did weeks ago, I put on one coat of clear yesterday. Then after deciding some time ago that silver is just grey but "metallic" I taped off everything but the top, and mixed some fine silver powder into 50/50 lacquer and thinners Then I sprayed 2 coats of that mixture on the top, holding the gun pretty far away to spray the widest fan possible, one coat sprayed up and down, then the second coat right after sprayed left to right. The idea of the above was to prevent any visible lines, and I left it at 2 coats because the more than goes on, the less of the figure will be visible as each grain of silver dust is solid/not transparent. To my eyes, this has definitely taken on a bit of a silver colour Then onto the burst this morning. I mixed up some more lacquer with thinners, this time 60/40 ish and added some black angelus dye and had a go at a teardrop burst. Came out pretty cool if not a perfect teardrop, I will still trying to maintain some transparency to not completely hide the figure. This was the first time spraying a burst with the LPH-80, definitely much easier to control than the sold setup. Notice it looks quite blue in places, I think that is the blue light in the workshop reflecting off the metallic in the paint. so particularly hard to photograph. Then I sanded back the edges to tidy up the natural binding and sprayed another couple of coats of clear. So was very bright this afternoon so awkward to get a decent video, there is still a bit of orange peel in it too from how I sprayed the silver. Overall very happy with it, experiment went well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 20, 2022 Report Share Posted March 20, 2022 Very nice! I love the way the burst grows and shrinks as the angles change. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alucard0811 Posted March 21, 2022 Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 uuuuh nice, reminds me of a build @ScottR finished not to long ago. I think the only part to make it a true hommage to Scott is to drop it on the concrete 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 21, 2022 Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 31 minutes ago, Alucard0811 said: uuuuh nice, reminds me of a build @ScottR finished not to long ago. I think the only part to make it a true hommage to Scott is to drop it on the concrete I'm unsure if that would be homage or violent plagiarism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 Rest assured, I will not be intentionally throwing this guitar on the floor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 13 hours ago, ScottR said: Very nice! I love the way the burst grows and shrinks as the angles change. SR Well spotted although that was never by design, I was just following the outline, then when I got to the waist, headed in a straight line towards the fretboard, in hindsight I suppose I probably should have headed to the pickup route but, oh well. I'me happy with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 21, 2022 Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 kind of has a silverburst (lp) thing going. nicely done. i noticed in your spray video you go all north/south... just wanted to let you know you are DOING IT WRONG (hehe jk). That is correct only if you are in AU. The officially sanctioned NA and EU way is east/west... er... um... that's how I do it... now I'm not sure if I'm doing it right lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 2 minutes ago, mistermikev said: kind of has a silverburst (lp) thing going. nicely done. i noticed in your spray video you go all north/south... just wanted to let you know you are DOING IT WRONG (hehe jk). That is correct only if you are in AU. The officially sanctioned NA and EU way is east/west... er... um... that's how I do it... now I'm not sure if I'm doing it right lol. LP silverburst ish was what I was shooting for. I actually find with the new gun, up an down is giving me much better results than left to right, also I can see what I'm doing better when it's up/down, Also also! when spraying any transparent colour coat - I figured spraying in the direction of the grain would be good in case there is any visible overlap to make it look less obvious. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 21, 2022 Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 2 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said: LP silverburst ish was what I was shooting for. I actually find with the new gun, up an down is giving me much better results than left to right, also I can see what I'm doing better when it's up/down, Also also! when spraying any transparent colour coat - I figured spraying in the direction of the grain would be good in case there is any visible overlap to make it look less obvious. that is an interesting theory (with the grain). I like it... and want to try it to see... and will do so... but it just seems like for me it would be really awkward. It never even occurred to me that folks might do it this way and now I wonder if the majority does. Add it to the long list of things I get out of this community. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 21, 2022 Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 also... my tip points north/south so I am guessing your is oriented east/west? didn't notice in the video (ie my spray is fanning north/south) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 34 minutes ago, mistermikev said: also... my tip points north/south so I am guessing your is oriented east/west? didn't notice in the video (ie my spray is fanning north/south) yeah my tip is set 90º so it's wide as apposed to tall, I set it the same way as you when I want to get left to right. BTF I know some people will spray a coat left to right, then next coat up and down. I used to do that quite a bit with my old gun because I wasn't getting such good coverage due to the insane pressure. None of these methods are incorrect IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 21, 2022 Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 2 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: Well spotted although that was never by design, I was just following the outline, then when I got to the waist, headed in a straight line towards the fretboard, in hindsight I suppose I probably should have headed to the pickup route but, oh well. I'me happy with it. It works well. Vintage bursts shaped like a teardrop are a bit too extreme for my taste (unless deeply faded) and the consistent margin types aren't either. Somewhere between the two, taking the contours into account makes for a much more tasteful transition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 21, 2022 Report Share Posted March 21, 2022 1 hour ago, ADFinlayson said: yeah my tip is set 90º so it's wide as apposed to tall, I set it the same way as you when I want to get left to right. BTF I know some people will spray a coat left to right, then next coat up and down. I used to do that quite a bit with my old gun because I wasn't getting such good coverage due to the insane pressure. None of these methods are incorrect IMO. right on, good to know. I guess for nitro... since each layer blends into the next... it is far less important. Storing int he back of my mind for whenever I do a poly or other finish next. thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 26, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2022 got onto sanding this one this afternoon. Wet sanded the top at 1000, nice and level, no trouble. The back and sides required more effort on account of the grain not being completely filled so started at 600 then 800, then 1000. and after all that I managed to sand through in this little spot. I'm thinking I will just sand everything up to 2,500 then just give that spot a sprits with some thinned lacquer buff as it. Touch wood I don't sand through anywhere else - bag and sides no big deal, but I really don't want to sand through the top. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 27, 2022 Report Share Posted March 27, 2022 On 3/26/2022 at 12:28 PM, ADFinlayson said: I'm thinking I will just sand everything up to 2,500 then just give that spot a sprits with some thinned lacquer buff as it. That will likely do, but the thinned lacquer won't survive much buffing. Be tender. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andronico Posted March 27, 2022 Report Share Posted March 27, 2022 Hello, I wasn´t at Project Guitar for about 10 years... I´m very happy to show that the quality of the guitars are superlative as usual !! This single cut is really beautiful, congratulations for your work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 31, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2022 On 3/27/2022 at 11:15 PM, Andronico said: Hello, I wasn´t at Project Guitar for about 10 years... I´m very happy to show that the quality of the guitars are superlative as usual !! This single cut is really beautiful, congratulations for your work. Thanks, welcome back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 31, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2022 On 3/27/2022 at 10:54 PM, ScottR said: That will likely do, but the thinned lacquer won't survive much buffing. Be tender. SR I took your comments under advisement and sprayed a spritz at full strength, buffed out fine, thank you. Started assembling her this evening. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted April 1, 2022 Report Share Posted April 1, 2022 Oh that looks great! SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 1, 2022 Report Share Posted April 1, 2022 Yeah, that's definitely crossed over the line from the "merely standard". Grey is always a hard colour to pull off with Maple due to its natural warm cast, and the slight blue tinge to the outer areas (esp. around the neck area) of the burst pull your eye and create interest rather than flattening the effect. It's more attractive than a lot of the bursts I see kicking around these days. Mediocre bursts should be outlawed under penalty of being kicked in the shins repeatedly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted April 3, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2022 The blue is weird, only due to the light in my workshop reflecting off the speckle in the finish, but sometimes is really apparent. Wired it up this evening, looking forward to giving it a blast through a proper amp tomorrow. My only gripe with it is that he chose chrome hardware, then later an antiquity neck pickup, so it's a bit of a mish-mash colour wise. Bridge pup is a duncan distortion which measured 15.5k so it's going to be a proper rock machine but I added a push pull coil split with a 1.1k restistor for a bit more versatility. Last job I need to do is fettle the back cover plate down a bit because it's a bit snug after lacquer. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted April 3, 2022 Report Share Posted April 3, 2022 6 hours ago, ADFinlayson said: The blue is weird, only due to the light in my workshop reflecting off the speckle in the finish, but sometimes is really apparent. If you take a look at old/used silver items you'd see all kinds of different colours, many shades of blue included. The various colours are especially prominent on a fingerprint on freshly polished silver where the stain looks like heated steel fading from yellow to blue through browns and greens. On more stained objects the overall dullness hides the colours. So if there's shades of blue in your silver it's just as silver should look like! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted April 3, 2022 Report Share Posted April 3, 2022 It's also important to consider the source and quality of the light, much the same as how high-end car paint manufacturers formulate their blacks for differing levels of jet by biasing the colour. IIRC, Mercedes usually bias their jet blacks to blue for the proper high end stuff, which I presume has something to do with outdoor colour perception. This is partly why I was drawn to this burst, because the residual warmer tones of Maple are often hard to overcome in order to achieve flat or colder colours. You usually end up with stray brown or even green. It's still possible to identify the Maple-ness of the wood in the centre of the burst, but it's not overwhelming. Spot on. Bleaching wood with oxalic acid or other chemicals is a possible path, and I've not seen many people doing that of late. Back in the first decade of PG, this was a very popular method of whitening browner Maples without destroying their appearance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted April 3, 2022 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2022 56 minutes ago, Prostheta said: It's also important to consider the source and quality of the light, much the same as how high-end car paint manufacturers formulate their blacks for differing levels of jet by biasing the colour. IIRC, Mercedes usually bias their jet blacks to blue for the proper high end stuff, which I presume has something to do with outdoor colour perception. This is partly why I was drawn to this burst, because the residual warmer tones of Maple are often hard to overcome in order to achieve flat or colder colours. You usually end up with stray brown or even green. It's still possible to identify the Maple-ness of the wood in the centre of the burst, but it's not overwhelming. Spot on. Bleaching wood with oxalic acid or other chemicals is a possible path, and I've not seen many people doing that of late. Back in the first decade of PG, this was a very popular method of whitening browner Maples without destroying their appearance. Well it was a fairly white piece of maple to begin with, I think I got lucky with the carbon powder I used to dye the wood, when I pulled the colour out it didn't take on a red or blue hue like sanding back black pigment can do, I think that using the acetone to pull out the colour had a slight bleaching effect too. Also the silver powder in the paint added opacity to the finish reducing the amount of visible figure from the wood underneath. If I remember rightly, I did 3 light passes with the silver in the finish, I expect if I did more, it would look a lot more silver and if I did less, it would be looking more yellow now. Another take away from this build, is I won't use ali sheet for inlay again, that stuff is like inlaying mash potato. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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